Number of gigs in a meg

[Binx]

There is a discussion going on in another forum regarding the prices hosts are offering for a dedicated server. Someone was doing an average of the hosts cost based on 320 gigs per meg.

I don't really understand how people are coming up with these calculations when providing burstable bandwidth with a dedicated server. For example we have a customer that does 4 megs of burstable bandwidth, however only uses 200 gigs of transfer. Or another customer does almost 2 megs but only uses 160 gigs of transfer. Both examples used above are based on 95th percentile burstable bandwidth. I don't think you can put an exact number of how many gigs are used per meg. The majority of companies that purchase bandwidth directlly through the backbone provider, pays per meg based on 95th percentile. So my question is how can people come up with 320 gigs per meg. Is this based on capping the server at one meg? If the bandwidth is burstable I don't think a flat rate 320 gigs per meg could apply, or am I missing something here?

[allan]

I'll find the numbers to do the conversion for you, but the short answer is this:

If you capped a connection at one Megabit and then flooded the connection with the maximum amount of bandwidth, you could push through a measured amount of data each month. That number is roughly 320 Gigabytes of data.

[Binx]

Originally posted by allan:

I'll find the numbers to do the conversion for you, but the short answer is this:

If you capped a connection at one Megabit and then flooded the connection with the maximum amount of bandwidth, you could push through a measured amount of data each month. That number is roughly 320 Gigabytes of data.

That is kind of my point exactly. I know the rule of thumb on a capped line. I am saying though on an uncapped line, or burstable bandwidth, there is really no way to calculate how many gigs are in a meg. Makes me wonder about some of those really cheap dedicated server deals. Do you think these server providers cap the connection? I understand people do promotional specials where they have the possibilty of losing money, heck we have run those specials ourselves from time to time. But it makes me curious about the hosts that sell these cheap servers all the time. If they are capping the line then I guess it wouldn't be a big loss, but if it is burstable bandwidth you could really lose your ass.

[allan]

The hath, for those who are interested, is:

(2^20 / 8 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 30) / 2^30

To answer your question, it works, because the host usually has a capped line of some sort. If you purchase colo space, the provider will probably cap your line (if nothing else, it will be capped at the speed of the switch port, which is probably set to 10 Megs). So, there is a limit to the amount of bandwidth that can be pushed.

I hope this makes sense, or am I still not getting your question?

[no1v2]

I think his question is why people consider 1 mbps of bandwidth measured using the 95th percentile method each month equivalent to 320 gigs/month of bandwith. The short answer is that a host advertising them as the same is stretching the truth, and a (potential) customer who says they're the same doesn't know what (s)he's talking about. I'll take 320 gigs/month over 95th percentile 1 mbps any day.

Edit: This is supposing the line is capped at no more than 10mbps. Theoretically you could use close to 2000 gigs/month w/o going over 1 mbps 95th percentile if you could burst to 100mbps. In practice you'd probably still be much better off with 320 gigs/month.

[Binx]

Yeah, I understand the logistics of the whole thing. I guess I was a little misleasding with the subject of my post. My point being is either these really cheap hosts are capping people or they are potentially going to get burned if the customer really uses the bandwidth. Since we do not cap our servers most of our customers that are using 300 gigs are doing way more than one meg. I don't blame no1v2 for saying they would take the 320 gigs over a meg. I would too if I were looking for a server ;-)

[allan]

Well, Duhhhh ::D. While most hosts oversell their bandwidth, to some extent, lower end hosts do so to dangerous levels, especially since they have to crowd more customers onto each server in order to make money.

[interactive]

Quick question. Is there any place that explains the 95%'ile thing? Or could someone explain it? Thanks

[JeremyV]

I could explain it in various ways, but the best is done by this site, and graph:

http://www.seanadams.com/95

[interactive]

Ahh much more clearer. Thanks for the link Jeremy, book marked it :D